â€œCredit-default swapsâ€ are explained well in a couple of books. Gillian Tett of the Financial Times predicted the financial crisis in 2006. No-one listened, so sheâ€™s written Fool’s Gold, based on some incredible interviews, explaining how it all went down. And then thereâ€™s John Lanchester’s Whoops!. This book, subtitled Why Everyone Owes Everyone And No-One Can Pay, is an attempt to explain the language and concepts of weird modern financial instruments to curious people who find the whole thing bewildering. It succeeds. And for general City shenanigans, Michael Lewisâ€™s Liarâ€™s Poker is from the 1990s but remains readable, relevant and jaw-dropping.